Chapter 110

“A family is a family; there’s no overnight grudge.”

Lu Jianguo tossed a bag of grain onto the cart and spat in his hand. “Here’s the plan: in a bit, you call Wenhua and go to the brigade clinic. Tell He Ting and WeiWei to come to our place for the New Year’s Eve dinner.”

Liu Chunhua was afraid of He Ting and Lu WeiWei. The last time, He Ting had nearly strangled Lu Wenhua, which left her feeling scared. She had come to realize that Lu WeiWei no longer showed her any respect as a stepmother. If she wanted to get anything out of that couple, she would need Lu Jianguo’s help.

After all, Lu Jianguo was WeiWei’s biological father, and surely he would give her some face.

“Old Lu,” Liu Chunhua said, “WeiWei has some misunderstandings about me. You’re her biological father, and there’s no overnight grudge between father and daughter.”

She urged Lu Jianguo, “Take Wenhua with you and go to see WeiWei. Let her and Wenhua get closer.”

Lu Jianguo moved the grain back home, then took Lu Wenhua to the brigade clinic to find Lu WeiWei and He Ting’s new house.

Lu WeiWei and He Ting had already started preparing the New Year’s Eve dinner inside, but Lu Jianguo didn’t even bother to step inside. He knew that when he was once locked up at the brigade office, Lu WeiWei hadn’t even bothered to pay to get him out.

Not only that, when Liu Chunhua had gone to ask for help, He Ting had even struck his precious son, Lu Wenhua.

Lu Jianguo felt bitter and acted as if he had no daughter named Lu WeiWei.

To get Lu Wenhua some clothes, he found himself now having to lower his head to his daughter, going to the clinic and personally asking her and He Ting to come to the house for New Year’s Eve dinner.

Lu Jianguo felt like he had no face left. Standing in front of Lu WeiWei’s new red-brick house, he felt a mixture of emotions.

Lu WeiWei had no idea that Lu Jianguo would be showing up at her door. After the New Year, she expected to be left alone for a while. Right now, she was busy with Zhou Yueying, discussing tailoring new cotton clothes for He Yunqi and Ranran for the New Year.

Tang Jinghai’s factory hadn’t officially broken for the holiday yet, but he had taken a half day off to deliver fabric for tailoring clothes for the New Year, and would need to head back to the county soon for some work at the factory.

Lu WeiWei had invited him to stay for dinner, but he had said they would all gather together later for the New Year’s Eve meal.

He was very interested in the brigade’s rabbit farm. He said that when the meat rabbits were ready for market, he would suggest to the factory leadership that they buy meat rabbits from the Xiangyang Brigade’s farm.

“He said that once the meat rabbits are ready for market, he will suggest to the factory leadership that they purchase meat rabbits from the Xiangyang Brigade.”

After sitting at Lu WeiWei’s new house for a while, Tang Jinghai asked He Ting to accompany him to visit the rabbit farm.

Lu WeiWei, meanwhile, took out the fabric from the canvas bag and began calculating how much fabric she would need to make new clothes for He Yunqi and Ranran.

Tang Jinghai had mentioned that it was defected fabric, but the defects in the fabric he picked for Lu WeiWei were very minimal. The large piece of corduroy had some discoloration on the edges, likely from uneven dyeing during the process.

Such a small flaw could easily be covered with embroidery or placed on parts of the clothing like the pockets.

Although it was labeled as “defective fabric,” to Lu WeiWei and Zhou Yueying, the fabric Tang Jinghai brought back seemed perfect. After all, this was fabric they could get without needing fabric coupons.

Only someone like Tang Jinghai, who managed procurement at the clothing factory, could use his connections to acquire such high-quality defective fabric.

“Vivi, your little uncle is really something, being able to get such good fabric without needing fabric coupons.”

Zhou Yueying, admiring the corduroy fabric that Lu WeiWei held up, said with envy, “You shouldn’t have called me over to look at the fabric. Now I’m just looking at it greedily, my heart’s all wild with desire.”

Lu WeiWei placed the fabric on He Yunqi and Ranran to measure, also estimating how much fabric she and He Ting would need.

“What do you mean by ‘greedy’?” Lu WeiWei responded. “Yueying, if I wasn’t planning to share some fabric with you, why would I have called you over? I’m not going to ask you to help make clothes for little Qi Ranran.”

Zhou Yueying had assumed that Lu WeiWei had invited her to help make clothes for little Qi Ranran.

She knew Lu WeiWei had great sewing skills. But she, being pregnant, had been told by He Ting and the old Tang family not to do any physical work, as it could affect her pregnancy. So, she thought that Lu WeiWei shouldn’t be doing sewing either while pregnant.

What Lu WeiWei had hinted at, however, surprised Zhou Yueying.

She was overjoyed. “WeiWei, you mean you’re going to share some fabric with me to make clothes?”

“Yes,” Lu WeiWei replied. “I just measured for little Qi Ranran and also reserved fabric for me and He Ting to each have a set of clothes. After making clothes for the family, there will be extra fabric, and I plan to share the remaining fabric with you and Professor Chen.”

Zhou Yueying and Chen Wen had lost their belongings when they first arrived in Xiangyang Brigade after coming from the capital.

When they arrived in Xiangyang, they had nothing but their cooking pots, some clothes, and a few basic household items.

Chen Wen provided rabbit farming techniques to the brigade, and the brigade treated them well, giving them full work points and grain every month.

“Chen Wen provided rabbit farming techniques to the Xiangyang Brigade, and the brigade did not treat the couple poorly, ensuring they were given full work points and grain every month.”

This way, they gradually paid off the debt they owed to He Ting and Lu WeiWei.

However, although the brigade provided work points and paid Chen Wen a salary, they couldn’t provide fabric coupons or sugar coupons.

Without fabric coupons, Zhou Yueying couldn’t even make new pants for Professor Chen.

Chen Wen still wore patched-up pants.

Lu WeiWei couldn’t stand seeing this and, thinking of this, she decided to share the fabric with Zhou Yueying and Chen Wen.

“Vivi, thank you so much. I don’t need much, just enough to make a pair of pants for my old Chen. After all, he’s the technical advisor for the rabbit farm here at Xiangyang Brigade, but he’s been walking around wearing patched-up pants every day. It’s really embarrassing.”

Zhou Yueying was so moved that she grabbed Lu WeiWei’s hand, her face filled with emotion. “Vivi, you’re sending coal in the snow! Both Chen and I will remember this favor.”

When Zhou Yueying mentioned that Chen Wen had been wearing patched pants while working at the brigade, Lu WeiWei immediately imagined the scene in her mind.

Even little Qi, who had obediently let her adjust his clothes, understood what Zhou Yueying was talking about.

It was common for children to play tricks, and little Qi, along with little Tang and Ranran, would often secretly make faces behind Chen Wen, who had patched-up pants on his backside.

Lu WeiWei had actually caught them in the act of making faces at Professor Chen’s patched pants, and she thought it was inappropriate, which was why she had decided to make sure they had new clothes.

Seeing little Qi and Ranran making faces, Lu WeiWei shot them a look to stop the mischief.

She couldn’t help but smile. “Yueying, we’re practically family now, so don’t be so polite with me.”

“If there’s extra fabric, you and Professor Chen can each make clothes for yourselves. I won’t give it to you for free, though. I’ll charge you the price based on the supply and marketing cooperative’s fabric price. How’s that?”

“Of course, of course. How could there be a problem with that?” Zhou Yueying eagerly agreed.

Zhou Yueying then asked Lu WeiWei, “Vivi, do you want to save some fabric to make clothes for the baby in your belly?”

“The corduroy fabric probably won’t be needed. By the time the baby’s born, it’ll be hot weather, so I’ll ask my little uncle to bring back some thin cotton fabric to make the baby’s clothes.”

Lu WeiWei made a final decision. “It’s settled then. The extra fabric will be for you and Professor Chen to each make clothes. Don’t be polite about it.”

“Later, I’ll ask my third aunt to go to the brigade and get some cotton for you too…”

Lu WeiWei’s father, Lu Jianguo, was trying to save face. He stood outside the new house made of red bricks, lingering for a while, secretly eavesdropping on the conversation between Lu WeiWei and Zhou Yueying, hoping that Lu WeiWei would notice him.